


Relaxing

by Millixi77



Series: Animal Traits AU [4]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Animal Traits, Fluff, Multi, Slight Animalistic Tendencies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 11:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17621828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millixi77/pseuds/Millixi77
Summary: It was a nice, lazy morning. It was a morning that made you not want to get out of your bed, that made you want to just lie in bed and just... exist with everything else.It was a nice day to just relax in bed and listen to everything going on in the house. Enhanced hearing had its benefits.





	Relaxing

****

If anyone walked into Maki’s room at this precise moment, they would think she was asleep. 

 

Her body was relaxed, her limbs were starfished out underneath a warm blanket and her eyes were closed. She looked like a textbook example of a sleeping person. 

 

However they would be missing one vital piece of information: she wasn't asleep. 

 

If she wanted to take a nap, she'd do it on the couch. Napping in her actual bed was something she hadn't really taken to doing. It would mess up her sleep schedule a bit if she tried. 

 

She knew from experience. 

 

What she was currently doing wasn't sleeping. Not at all. She was simply relaxing. Relaxing her body, her mind and most of her senses. It was something on the fine line between napping and dozing slightly with her eyes half-open.

 

She'd mastered it. 

 

Her panther ears twitched slightly as she slowed her breathing and started to listen to everything that was going on in the house. 

 

The first sound that she picked up on was the sound of a knife on a cutting board, slicing up vegetables. 

 

The sound of the knife meeting the cutting board wasn't as sharp as Kokichi’s strokes and the knife’s pace was faster than Kaito’s leisurely, unhurried one. 

 

Kaede wasn't cooking today, either. Not only that, but the strokes of the knife were just a little bit sharper than her own, as well as a little faster. 

 

Therefore, it had to be Shuuichi in the kitchen. 

 

It was a needless game of deduction, really, but it was one she liked testing herself with. She needed to keep her observational skills sharp, after all. 

 

(Sight could easily be deceived, after all. A cold could functionally eliminate the sense of smell, and would give the sense of taste a nasty blow. The sense of touch could be useless in a variety of situations.)

 

(Hearing was something that could save people's lives in the right situations.)

 

She listened to the steady rhythm of the knife on the cutting board, letting the sound lull her into a soft, comfortable feeling of calmness. She couldn't smell what he was cutting from within her room, but if she was going to hazard a guess, since he was cutting vegetables, she assumed that he could either be making soup or rice. 

 

She was sure that some people would call it strange that she thought that the sound of a knife was reassuring to her. Call it morbid, but it was the little things like that which let her know that everything was fine. Being able to hear that someone's actions were normal and thus know that they were fine, was something that she treasured. 

 

She didn't care about what they thought. As long as she could be sure that everyone was alright, she was fine with it. 

 

Still trying to keep the sound of Shuuichi cutting vegetables in the background, she listened to the house again, trying to pick up on more sounds. 

 

Her efforts were soon rewarded when she heard fingers tapping against a phone screen, their nails tapping against the screen with speed that soon turned into a unique, frenzied rhythm. 

 

Kokichi.

 

From his appearance, most people wouldn't think that he could be much of a threat. 

 

His petite frame lied to them, making him seem weak and defenseless. 

 

His lies usually irritated them to the point that they wondered what the hell was wrong with him. 

 

And, naturally, that particular combination of traits which he presented would tempt some people to try and confront him on his actions, expecting an easy and swift showdown, particularly if it was a physical confrontation. 

 

It  _ would  _ be swift, but not for them. 

 

In spite of his size, Kokichi was one of the most magnificent bastards she'd had the pleasure of laying eyes on. Anh physical confrontation was was easily balanced out by his knowledge of pranks. Any fool who decided to confront him could quickly find out that they'd walked into the wrong territory. 

 

She'd actually seen a confrontation happen firsthand. 

 

The fox type hadn't known what had hit them. Literally. Kokichi had started the entire situation by spraying liquid in their eyes, which had later been revealed to be lemon juice. Then he'd pushed the person backwards while they were screaming in pain. They'd fallen in a way that had activated a hidden mechanism which had been planted beforehand. 

 

And what did it do? 

 

It smacked the guy in the head with a bucket. 

 

Said bucket was full of ice water. 

 

In the span of a few seconds the person was temporarily blinded and soaking wet with a broken nose and what looked like a sprained wrist from how they'd tried to stop their fall. 

 

And Kokichi had barely needed to lift a finger to do that. 

 

That wasn't even considering the sheer span of the things which you could do  _ online _ to terrorize someone half to death. 

 

She hoped that, for the safety of some particular people in this world, that he was only updating his social media. 

 

But it wasn't like she couldn't appreciate the techniques that he used to create a series of events that were colloquially called “drama.” She'd never understand how and why a person would prefer to air beef publically like that. 

 

She greatly preferred tackling those matters in private. 

 

(While she was well-armed.)

 

(And preferably ambushing the other party.)

 

She listened to Kokichi’s ever-hurried yet surprisingly error-free typing before she slowly picked up on some extra background noise. 

 

It sounded like running water. 

 

Someone was taking a shower; that was too much water to logically be running in a sink. 

 

She listened for a few more seconds. 

 

It had to be Kaede; if it was Kaito, she'd have heard his tail moving, and in this quiet it would be hard for that to quickly fade into background noise. 

 

The sound of a small hop, a sigh and the sound of thick fabric running over a person's body confirmed her suspicions. 

 

Kaede had a tendency to hop a little bit in a few circumstances. She didn't do it often, but it was usually a sign of her being in a good mood. 

 

But when she  _ jumped,  _ it was really something to look at. She was the best jumper in the entire relationship; absolutely no competition there. 

 

(And woe betide the fool who decided to piss her off and come within kicking distance… they would end up having a slightly extended hospital stay.)

 

(Or a highly extended one. It depended on the degree to which she had been annoyed. Anger was an interesting spectrum, especially when considering it in regards to people who were calm most of the time.)

 

Soon, Kaede started humming, and Maki couldn't help but smile. Kaede’s voice was very soothing to listen to. She was a great singer, even though she preferred playing the piano. 

 

The sound of a tail thumping against a wall told her that she wasn't the only one who had been enjoying the performance. 

 

Maki was barely able to stifle the snicker that snuck upon her. The way Kaito’s bed was positioned made it ready for his tail to thump against the wall if he happened to wag it while he was lying on his stomach. 

 

Cue situations like this. 

 

“Good morning, Kaito!” Kaede said. 

 

At that, Maki couldn't help but giggle softly. Enhanced hearing led to situations like this a lof. 

 

“Good morning to you too, Maki!”

 

“Good morning,” she said. 

 

“Good morning!” Kaito was cheery, as always, and his tail wagged even more intensely. 

 

“Doesn't it hurt when you do that?” she asked him. 

 

“Nope!”

 

“No good morning for me?! That's a legal offense, you know!” Cue the fake crying. Kokichi always loved making a dramatic entrance, whether physically or in conversation. 

 

“Good morning to you too, Kokichi!” Kaede didn't lose a bit of her enthusiasm. They were all used to it by now, and it had become a staple in their conversations. 

 

“Hi, Kokichi!” Kaito said. 

 

“Morning, gremlin.” Most people woukd think it was odd that she'd settled on that sort of nickname for Kokichi, but they'd settled on using otherwise insulting terms to refer to each other. 

 

Love didn't fully conquer needless rivalry, apparently. 

 

“Good morning, Kaede! Good morning, Kaito! Good morning, bitch!” 

 

The hook. 

 

“That's  _ panther  _ to you! I'm not a dog!” She started out heated with the faux-offended act. 

 

There went the line. 

 

“Are you sure? Are you really,  _ really _ ,  **_really_ ** sure?”

 

“A thousand percent,  _ kitten _ .” 

 

The sinker. 

 

“ _ Kitten?!  _ Waaaah! Did you guys  _ hear  _ that?! Did you hear what she called me?!”

 

And it was all set in motion. 

 

“We did! But, remember, you guys, we can't get another noise violation again!” Kaede said. 

 

“But aren't you going to do something about it?!” 

 

“Are we really going to start the day like this, you guys?” Shuuichi asked. “Good morning to all of you, by the way.”

 

“Ooooooh, Shuuichi! You remember us! I thought you'd gotten so involved in your cooking that you'd forgotten all about us! Thank goodness you haven't!” 

 

And the joking argument was discarded even before it could blow up. 

 

They'd made it into an art at this point. 

 

“I'm fine, Kokichi, don't worry!”

 

“Thank goodness! So when are Maki, Kaede and Kaito going to come outside and get some fresh air? You can't spend the entire day in your rooms, you know!”

 

“Have you met yourself or Shuuichi?” Maki asked. “You both do that all the time.”

 

“As  _ if _ you don't do the same thing! That's  _ hypocrisy _ , you know! That makes you a hypocrite!”

 

“No, it doesn't. I don't do oit as often as the both of you do.”

 

“But you still do it! Therefore, by law, that makes you a hypocrite!”

 

“Law?” Kaito sounded incredulous. “What law?”

 

“The law of the land! Also known as the law of Kokichi Ouma’s territory! It's rule number three thousand and fifty six!”

 

“Wait, wasn't that the law that said no one was allowed to ignore you?” Again, another tone of their nonsensical in-jokes. 

 

“Nope! That was law number one!”

 

“I thought law number one was that you ruled over everything!” Kaede interjected. 

 

“Nuh uh! That was rule zero!”

 

“There wa a rule zero?” Kaito really sounded confused. 

 

“Well, now there is!”

 

“Shouldn't we put all of these these laws down in a rulebook or constitution to keep track?” Shuuichi suggested. 

 

“That's true!” Kokichi seemed to be entertaining the suggestion. “But how would we decide who would write them all down?”

 

“ _ You  _ could write it down,” Maki cut in. “You know all of your rules and you know them best, so you would be the best person to write them down.”

 

“Interesting!” He seemed to be entertaining the suggestion. “But I could easily dictate them to one of my loyal subjects so  _ they  _ could write it down! Try again!”

 

“That, or you could dictate it to a computer so it could be typed automatically,” Kaede chimed in. 

 

“But those text to speech things usually aren't too good,” Kaito said. “It's hard to fine one that's actually good.”

 

“Its a difficult task with a good reward! No more unnecessary finger strain!”

 

“Yeah, but your mouth can get try while talking, and you could get sick of dictating it to the computer after a while.”

 

“It’s still easier to do it that way! Ideas don't get lost in translation between your mind and your hand; they go directly from your mind through your mouth and right into the document! Easy!”

 

“But the quality of dictation is limited by the software,” Maki said. “And the better software for that re usually locked behind a paywall.”

 

“And ain't nobody got money for that!” Kokichi added. 

 

“They do, actually,” Shuuichi said. “Why else would the companies that make them price them so highly? They know someone can pay, and they don't care about people who can't afford it.”

 

“Basically, Apple products,” Kaito concluded. 

 

“Only in this house can we go from saying hello to denouncing expensive products in the same conversation,” Maki said, shaking her head.

 

“Do you remember what used to happen in the school's group chat?” Kokichi asked. “This is tame!”

 

Everyone else, including her, collectively groaned. 

 

Despite their school being an expensive, elite school, one which the children of rich people had been shipped to and the less fortunate but academically strong managed to attend through scholarships, there had been a mixed bunch of people who had attended. 

 

Some of them, when allowed to group into specific combinations, could produce content that was especially cursed. 

 

That group chat had been one of them. 

 

“Aww! You guys didn't like it? I especially liked the era of the cursed images!”

 

“Oh God.”

 

“Please, no.”

 

“I tried to forget about that!”

 

“I still remember that one picture of spaghetti in someone's shoe…”

 

“Wait, what?!”

 

“Ooooh, I remember that! So, none of the dishes were clean and they really needed to eat…”

 

And with that, the apartment was metaphorically lit on fire with sheer chaos. 

 

Something told Maki that, in spite of Kaede’s efforts, they would be getting written up for another noise violation. 

 

Not like anything would result from it. This particular apartment building was… 

 

A special case. 


End file.
